Foldable or collapsible boat



July 19, 1932. w. E. ELLING ,8

FOLDABLE 0R COLLAPSIBLE sou Filed July 21, 1951 Z-Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR:

W lliam a fling 4 BY J/ e ATTORNEY- July 19, 1932. w. E. ELLING 1,868,280

FOLDABLE 0R COLLAPSIBLE BOAT Filed July 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 92 mvamom ATTORNEY- Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES WILLIAM E. ELLING, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, EW YORK roLnnBLE on COLLAPSIIBLE BoA'r Application filed July 21,

This invention relates to improvements in collapsible or foldable boats, particularly such as described in my co-pending application, Serial No. 508,654L, filedJanuary 14th, 1931, and it is the principal'object of my invention .to provide means allowing the construction of an inexpensivecollapsible boat which is watertight when unfolded and particularly useful as a lifeboat, or as a boat 1 to be used on hunting or fishing expeditions as its construction allows the readyinstallation of an outboard motor, and the convenient storing of the boat in a garage or carrying it on the running board of an automobile.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a collapsible or foldable boat, the walls of which are to bend conveniently to useful curves, yet possess the necessary stability or stifiness when the boat is unfolded.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of a collapsible or foldable boat which may readily be used as pontoon for aircraft of every description and which can be readily folded and stored when not to be used.

Further objects of my invention are to be seen in the provision of foldable fins stifi'enfo i m foldable airtanks on such foldable or collapsible boats, as they are for instance disclosed in my co-pending application identified above, and in the provision of improved hinge constructions for connecting the parts of a watertight folding boat structure a1- lowing a ready folding of the boat and'producing a watertight closure between the parts connected by said hinges.

Still further objects of my invention are the provision of a collapsible or folding boat equipped with folding thwarts, seats and beams co-operating with its other parts to facilitate the openingv and collapsing operation and acting as braces for the unfolded boat, and of easily bendable guards or stiffeners for collapsible or foldable boats which are preferably made of a plurality of wooden strips, or may be made of metal or similar suitable material and are arranged in superposition and providedwith elongated holes the boatwalls, which may, moreover,-

1931. Serial No. 552,098.

for permitting engagement by the fastening means. 1 a I I These and other objects and advantages of my invention will become more fully known as the description thereof proceeds, 66 and will then be specifically defined in the appended claims. 7

In the accompanying drawings forming a material partof thisdisclosure: V:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a folding or collapsible boat constructed accordingto my invention. I

Fig. 2 is a central section through the boat, Figure 1, unfolded." v

Fig. 3 is a section similar to Figure 2 showing the boat in the process of folding.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the connections between boat wall and transom. I

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of the con nection clamp illustrated in Figure 4:.

Fig. 6 shows the 'foldable seat of the boat, Figure 1, in opened condition. s

Fig. 7 shows the floor of a collapsible boat rolled up. v

Fig.8 is a fragmentary side elevation of a boat floor with a girder and cut outs for stiffening fins. p v

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view through a collapsible air chamber of .a boat with bot tom and side wall on the outside thereof.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a part of a boatwall with a plurality of stiffening fins in th eirfolded position.

'Fig. 11 a side view of Fi the fins unfolded.

Fig. 12 is a sectional-view of a bendable stiffening clamp attached to the wall of my collapsible boat.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary sectional view of the side wall of a collapsible boat showing the connection of the bendable stiffening clamp Figure 12'and the connection and lock of foldable seat.

Fig. 14 illustrates two collapsible boats connected by hinged braces to an airplane, and diagrammatically the folding of the sides and the seat of a boat.

1 Fig. 15 is asectional viewthrough aboa t, 1

ire 10 with together by means of a hinge 21, while the curved edges of theside walls are hingedly connected to the curved edges of the bottom by means of hinges 22, of any desired type for instance such as described hereafter;

Foldable stiffening fins designated 23, 24,

curved homogeneous to the curvature of side and bottom, are hingedly connected to the side walls 17, 18, and partly forming the plank sheen Also hingedly connected to the side walls are two fins 25, 25 to which each end of an extension of the foldable seat having bevelled inner edges 26, 27, is loosely connected by means of the clips 29 which are fastened to the seat halves and adapted to a" overlap and hold said fin. A bolt 28, connects the inner meeting ends of the twoseat parts 26, 27, while the bevelled outer ends of these seatpartsg'engage the bevelled edges of the extensions and are held in place by 'means of i the" catch 30."

Two fins 31, 32, and a cover'33, are hinged ly connected amongst themselves and'to each side wall and form a watertight airchamber when the boat is unfolded and end covers 34,-

34 hingedly connected to the side wall close the chamber and are securedby clamps, while the lower fin '32 is extended to the ends of the boat. stiffening.longitudinally extending fins 35 are hingedly connected to the bottom, while floor laths 36, are laid crosswise-on top ofsaid fins 35, and are connected by flexible strips 38, and girders 37, to 'fit between fins 35, are fastened to laths 36.

The end vpiece or transom 39,:has a layer of felt40, attached at ends and bottom, and in addition on both sides a plurality of clips 41, andcontinuous hinges 42 42, have one of their leaves attached tothe boat wall and their other leaves to the end piece 39. Fingers 43 on the hinge leaves on end piece 39 are engaged by the lower bent end flanges of channel shaped clamps 46, the upper ends of which engage clips 41 with their bent ends 47,.thus, pulling the endpiece .39 and the boat-walls'together and pressing the upright hingeleaves against the layer of felt 45 which is held between the hinges 42, 42, and the boat-walls, while pins 48 passing through openings in clips 41 and the'slots 48' areprovided to hold the clamps 46 in place.

A modified construction of an air chamber is shown in Figure 9, and consists oftwo foldable fins 49,49, hingedly connected to the side wall 50 and bottom 50, respective- I are firmly connectedto fied wall stiffening clamp consists of a plurality of longitudinally arranged laths held together by bolts 57, which are securely fastened to the boatwall58 by nuts 59 and counternuts 59, and the laths 60, have elongated holes 61-to take the bolts 57 F igure13 shows the end of a seat I, with a modified form. of. connection to the side wall 58- according to which a slot socket II- isfastened to the sidewall, a hinge part III to suit socket II is connected by another hinge part IV to the seat, a pin V, extending from under the seat is fastened to the seat and will go thru a hole in lock.

part III and thereby act as a As shown in Figures 14"to 15, two coll'apsi ble boats are connected to an airplane by' hinged braces 62, 62, 63, 63, 64, 64, pivotal ly connected to the top edges of the sides 65,

65, the sides are hingedly connected to the bipartite, bottom 66-, 66 which has a hinge along its centerline 67 a foldable seat 68, is

hingedly connected as at 69 to the top'edge of the sides 65, 65, and at its centerline 70, its parts are hingedly connected. The boat is covered by canvas 71, fixedly connected to the side walls, the cables 72, 72 are firmly connected to the side walls and run through a pair of blocks 73, 734 before passing through the boat cover to the cockpit of the'airplane'.

Another cable 74 is firmly connected to the center of the seat at 70, and passes through a block at 7 5, before leading to the cockpit of the airplane, another pair of cables 76,76,

tom 66, 66. 7

I11 Figures 16, 17, 21, and 22, I have illustrated, modified constructions of hinge connections between side walls 77 and the bottom 78 of a collapsible boat which are watertight when opened up to 90. Figure 16 shows an all metal hinge with two inner parts 79, 80, to form the hinge and two outer parts 81, 82, to overlap one another and press the overlapping ends of felt layers 83, 83 against each other, and part 82 is bent out'fromthe pin 84 to allow a folding of the walls and bottom.

Figure 17 shows the side wall 85 and the bottom 86 made'of wood with an'ordin'ary' piano hinge 87 on the inside layers of felt 88,88 are guided around the edges of the boat bottom and walls, and two metal strips 89, 90,

are attached to sideand bottom respectively, overlapping each'other, so that part 90 will press into felt 88 thus insuring a'watertight closure, in addition thereto, the bottom and the outside of the b ot-V l i wall parts 85, 86, will press againsteach other. Figure 21, shows a construction similar to Figure 17, but parts 95, are straight with a diagonally arranged part 96 to press against felt layers 94, 94. The construction of Figure 22 will act in a manner similar to Figure 21, it shows side wall 97 and bottom 98 made of thin material and has two fingershaped parts attached to the hinge parts :101, 101 with a part 102 between to press into layers of felt 103, 103 which holds layers of rubber or similar material 104, 104.

In Figures 18, 19, 20, and 23, I have illustrated various forms of connections between the halves of the bottom of a boat alongits center line. i 1

As shown in Figure 18, the bottom halves 105, 105 are connected bymeans-of a hinge 106, the leaves of which are bentvupon themselves, as at 107, 108, and have curved overlapping ends, and a layer of felt 108, rubber or similar material is interposed between the hinge leaves and their parts l07, 108, with its center part pressed into the curve formed by the overlapping ends. It will be clear that a watertight closure will thus be providedbetween the inner ends of the bottom halves when they form an angle of 180.

As shown in Figure 19 the bottom halves 109, 109" are connectedby a hinge 111, and a strip 110 of felt or other suitable material is interposed between one of the hinge leaves and bottom part 109. To the outside of either bottom half are attached two strip-s 112, 113, havingtheir inner ends bent out of the plane of the strips and overlapping at their meeting point when the bottom parts are unfolded, while'cushions of soft compressibl'e material 114 are interposed between the bent parts of strips 112, 113, or the bottom halves. It will be clear that a watertight closure will thus be provided when the-bottom parts assume an angle of 180.

In Figure 23, the bottom halves115, 116, are made of wood or similar materialand held together by an ordinary continuous hinge 117, a metal strip 118, held in a groove in bottom half 115 is adapted to engage with its outer end in an opposite groove in 116, and two metal strips 119, 120, fastened and overlapping each other are attached to-the top of the bottom halves, while layers of felt 121, 122, in the groove of 116 and at the end of strip 118 engaging therein are engaging each other and are held engaged by strips 119, 120, and hinge 117 when the bottom halves assume an angle of The part 115 has a shoulder formed in its inner end adapted to be engaged by the inner end of strip 120.

In Figure 20 is shown asimple connection of the bottom halves 123, 124, which are bent at their meeting ends toform interengaging hooks for holding layers of felt, rubber 'or similar material 125,125, engaged to be pressed inwardly by the edges of the bottom parts, a plurality of brackets 126 attached to the lower bottom part 124 and a plurality Y of wedges 127 are arranged to wedge and hold said finger-shaped bottom parts together and ensure a watertight closure. I

In operation and actual constructlon 1t Wlll be observed I The hingedly connected stiffening fins will have to be fastened to the boat wall on a Figure. 3 how the fin 25 is in position to take the seat, of course, the bottom will have to be flattened first before opening the sides. --VVl1ile the seat'in Figure 14 is shown only diagrammatically as it would be impossible to show it onthe folded boat as it would show among the braces 62, 63 and 64.

It will be clearthat foldable fins maybe also used at the underside of the bottom on collapsible boats for use" in ice regions whic will then act as-sled runners.

Each of the fins will fold flat to the wall to which it is hingedly connected. The connected edge of a fin used on a collapsible boa-t must conform to the curve of the wall when boat is unfolded. V r

It will be understood that I have disclosed the preferred forms of my invention only, as

a few examples of the manypossibleways to practically construct my "invention, and that I may make such changes 1n the general arrangement and combination of parts, as

well as in the construction ofthe minor details thereof, as come within the scope of the appended claims without departure from the spirit of my invention and the principles involved.-- 7

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new is:

1. A collapsible and portable. boat comprising a bipartite rigid bottom, a continuous metal hinge connecting'the parts of said bottom at center-line, curved sides, and continuous metal hinges connecting the sides to the bottom parts, means to make the seams in way of hinges watertight, a portable end of several stripsof stiff, yet bendable matell rial laid one on top passing through elongated holes in said strips of the other, and bolts for fastening-said clamps to the walls'of the boat.

2. A'collapsible, portable boat comprising abipartite rigid bottom, a continuous watery tight metalghingeifor connecting the parts of said-bottom at centereline, curved sides, continuous watertight metal hinges connecting said sides to the bottom parts, a removable end piece at one end of the boat, clamping means to hold and watertighten this end piece, between the sides and to bottom, a foldable seat, stiffening fins on the inside of the boat, means connecting said seat to said fins, continuous stiffening fins hingedly connected to the inside of the side walls for acting partly as a plank sheer, continuous stiffening fins hingedly connected to the outside of the side walls to act partly as spray-board and guard,

- other hingedly connecting fins, a cover interconnecting said fins and end piecesrto form air chambers on the boat walls, anda. means constituting the floor of the boat.

3. In collapsible, portable boatsof the class described, continuous foldable finsof suitable Width and rigid yet fiat bendable material,

and a means for attaching said fins to the boat walls, said means forming part of a continuous metal hinge. Y

4. In collapsible, portable boats of the class described, continuous foldable fins of suitable and rigid yet fiat bendable material, and

a means for attaching said fins to the boat walls, said means constituted by an ordinary continuous hinge, orva plurality of hinges. 1 5. In collapsible boats of the class described, a means of forming air tanks when boat is unfolded comprising two fins, hingedly connected to the boat walls, a cover plate hingedly connected to the outer edgesof the fins, means to make the seams in way of hinges watertight, 'twoend covers hingedly connected to the boat Walls, and clamping means to hold and watertighten said end 6. In collapsible boats of the class described, a means of forming air tanks when boat is unfolded comprising two finshingedly connected to side and bottom, two cover plates hingedly connected to the outer edge of said fins, parallelto side and bottom and hingedly connected at their meeting point,

means to makethe seams inway of hinges watertight, end covers, and clamping means V .to hold and watertighten said end covers.

7. In collapsible boats of the class de-,

scribed. a foldable seat or brace to act as means for assisting in opening the boat,'compris ng two halves to fold into each other,'a

' boltrunningthru each part to act as a hinge,

attached to the boatwalls fore and aft of transom, av'layer of felt. between said hi rg'e elements and transom, two fingers having bent upper ends connected to said hinge de -7 the floor, and longitudinal laths on said fins,

and cross-laths, flexiblestraps for connecting said cross-lathe parallel to each other, and resting on top of said foldable fins of the bottom of the boat, a girder fastened underneath and at centerline of each cross-lath with cut-outs for the reception of stiffening fins and longitudinal laths. I

10. In collapsible boatsfof the class described, a means for making the boat walls,

said means comprising a plate of suitable watertight material, a plurality of strips formed homogeneous to the desired curve of side edge of plateand hingedly connected to said plate in longitudinal direction at alternate positions for stiffening said plate when unfolded.

llnIn collapsible boats of the class de- 7 scribed, a means for making bendable longi tudinal clamps comprising several strips of stiff, yet bendable material laid one on top ofvanother having: elongated; holes and bolts passed through said holes for fastening said clamps to the boat walls. r V

12. A collapsible foldable boat, comprising a bi-partite rigid bottom, a continuous watertight metal hinge connecting the parts of said bottom a cent-erline, curved rigid sides, continuous watertight metal hinges, connecting said sides to the bottom parts, a flexible top, fixedly connected to the top edge of the sides, a collapsible brace hingedly connected to thetop edge of the sides of the boat, a means for connecting said boat to the underside of an airplane, a means permitting folding and unfolding of said boat including cables leading to thecockpit of the airplane.

13. A watertight continuous hinge for connecting the sides to the bottom of a collapsible'boat when opened to'90 comprising a hinge element connected to the hinge pintle.

the opposite hinge element set about 1% of its thickness o-ifthe pintle, a third member integral with said first named hinge element a and curved at the under edge according. to the radius: of action,'a piece of felt entered between and filling partof the space formed thereby, a fourth member integral with said second hinge element curved to suit said space and adapted to press into the felt to ensure a watertight closure.

14. In a collapsible boat, a means for connecting the sides of the boat with its bottom, comprising two layers of felt laid around the rounded edges of side Wall and bottom, and pressing against each other when the boat walls are unfolded, an ordinary hinge connection at the inside, and according to the radius of action two curved metal strips attached to the outside of bottom and side wall, one of said strips adapted to press into said layer of felt for ensuring a Watertight closure.

15. A Watertight hinge for connecting the bottom halves of a collapsible boat, when opened to 180 comprising an ordinary continuous hinge, composed of two straight elements bent upon themselves and leaving a space, a felt filler in said space, two interfilling curved parts at the ends of said elements, one of which presses upon said filler, said curved parts sliding freely upon each other as the hinge joint is flexed.

16. A watertight hinge construction for connecting the bottom halves of a collapsible boat comprising an ordinary continuous hinge to connect the bottom halves, a strip entered between one bottom half and said hinge, the bottom halves overlapping each other, two straight elements having offset fingers at their inner ends attached to either bottom half and overlapping each other at centerline, two pieces of felt covering the inner faces of said hinges and held on either side by said last named elements and by said hinge, and a body of soft material entered and held by said pieces of felt in space formed between said fingers.

17. A watertight joint construction for connecting the bottom halves of a collapsible boat comprising two bottom plates with channels along their centerline, a layer of felt in each channel, a plurality of bracket fastened to the inside of the lower plate, and a plurality of wedges engaged to press the channels one into another.

18. In collapsible boats, a means for connecting the sides of the boat with its bottom and make the seam watertight, comprising layers of felt around the rounded edges of side wall and bottom, an ordinary hinge connection on inside, two flat continuous elements on the outside of said wall and bottom,

and a third continuous member adapted to press against the felt of the wall ends.

19. A watertight continuous hinge for connecting the sides to the bottom of a collapsible boat when opened to 90 comprising an ordinary continuous hinge, two elements attached to the outside of each hinge part and having fingers almost touching at their meet ing points, two felt layers held by said elepressing against the felt.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 20th day of July, A. D. 1931.

WILLIAM E. ELLING. 

